Hellbound
by Dread Pirate Rinja
Summary: During an extreme bout of bad luck and ill timing, InuYasha learns of a curse placed upon all hanyou. And when he has to journey to hell to combat it, Naraku becomes the least of his worries. Rewritten. Hiatus, possibly discontinued.
1. 0:1 :: aien kien

_Disclaimer: InuYasha and all affiliated characters and settings are the creative property of Rumiko Takahashi and all companies holding title to its license. Characters and settings used without permission at no profit to the author of this fanwork._

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**Hellbound**  
_(formerly "Tada Soba ni Iru Kara")  
InuYasha_

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**0.i. Prologue**  
合縁奇縁  
_**aien kien**_

She had been watching him for some time, observing quietly from her vantage point. Watched him fumble time and again with the girl she had heard so much about from the inner circles, and wondered why he hadn't yet come to the conclusion everyone else clearly had for him. Waited for that dreaded time to begin when everything would change, and hoped that his eyes would be opened by it enough that he wouldn't take the girl for granted. Wished fervently that she could go to him and admonish him for his actions, but she could only lament in her post as simply an observer.

His fate would bring him to places he should never have gone, and at times she regretted her role in his coming misfortune. However, she knew that because he was strong, he had a chance to overcome the trials ahead, and would be able to change the destiny of all like him should he succeed. She clung to that hope and trust in him.

_Fate_, she prayed, _please be kind to my child._

At every wound he received, she would wince. Each drop of blood spilt, she shed a tear. Even as he huddled in a dark room, cornered by enemies, but staying strong to protect what he finally realized was most important to him, she hoped his strength would hold out for what she knew was next. She hoped the girl would understand too, when she finally awoke. The girl stirred slowly and appeared to be confused.

She took a deep breath, holding back tears. Her son's end was at hand.

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_The long road to hell  
is paved with timeless trials of  
blood and sacrifice._

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Darkness… It was warm in the void. Warm, comforting, wrapped in his arms like that… Fighting away the drowsiness that threatened to pull her back under, she peered up in confusion into the tensed features of the young man who held her tightly to his chest, his face barely visible in the dim light of the room save for the ethereal glow of his silvery hair and intense golden eyes. Familiar, safe. He would protect her. For a moment she almost relaxed, but instinct told her that something wasn't right – she didn't remember passing out, nor what she was doing beforehand. Her face was pressed closely to him, and she could hear his heart pounding. It only took her a moment to realize that he was uneasy. 

"Inu…Yasha?" she whispered. _When… when did he get here? Where are we?_

The hanyou blinked, then stared down at her, relief washing away some of the tension. "Kagome, you're awake," he breathed quietly, almost to himself. "Thank the gods…" Suddenly, his features scrunched into a wince, a small hiss of pain escaping his lips. Kagome frowned, her brow creasing in concern. The little voice within told her that she was missing something. _He's hurt? Wh – how?_

"A-Are you alright?" She tried to pull away from him to assess the damage, but he crushed her to him in an even tighter embrace.

"Y-Yeah… I'm fine. Are you hurt?" Kagome shook her head. She squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp, and he hesitated. "It's just… I–I thought I'd lost you again." The voice was barely above a whisper, muffled further by Kagome's silky raven tresses. He breathed deeply into her hair, the rush of warm breath tickling her neck.

Before her mind could squelch the thousands of thoughts racing through it, she felt something warm and wet seep through the side of the tank top she wore. Concern replaced all thoughts with panic as she shoved InuYasha away.

"InuYasha, you _are_ hurt!"

The crimson liquid stained her top and her hands – _too much blood! _– and she gazed concernedly towards the hanyou's once-white shirt. She glanced down, noting that his red fire-rat fur haori had been draped over her shoulders. Her eyes shifted back to the trail of blood, which led to a nasty-looking gash in the hanyou's side, a tear in the cloth exposing the split skin beneath. He gritted his teeth and grimaced at the horror crossing her features, a gesture Kagome mistook for pain.

"It's just a small scratch, is all," he replied, keeping his voice low.

Kagome finally thought to gaze about the room and gain her bearings, hoping to get past part of the blank spot in her memory. "Where are we? What happened?"

InuYasha closed his eyes wearily and took a deep breath. "We're in a small side room off the shrine in your time. Do you remember what happened before you passed out?"

_He's being so gentle, _Kagome noticed as she tried to search her mind for the clouded recollection. _But how did he get hurt? I don't remember where… I was… That's right, back home. Wait, we're in _my _time? Didn't I have a fight with InuYasha back in Sengoku Jidai? _Her brow wrinkled in worried bewilderment. _What happened? _The memory seemed to elude her further with each attempt at its resurrection. Lines of concentration continued to crease her pale forehead. _Why can't I remember?_

"Where… where did you find me?"

InuYasha looked away, visibly upset by the question. Kagome grew more frustrated as he delayed his response.

Finally, his uncharacteristically soft voice broke the silence. "Kagome… you were…"

A loud banging interrupted his explanation. Kagome yelped out of reflex, and InuYasha protectively moved between her and the door, a fiercely frustrated look on his face, intensity and concern gleaming in his eyes. Something about the look unsettled Kagome; she felt her chest unconsciously constrict with fear at his expression. Something was really wrong, really off. Who were the people outside the door?

She then realized why InuYasha's expression troubled her. _I've never seen him that frightened before, not ever!_

"Would you mind telling me what's wrong?"

He refused to look at her; face turned slightly towards the floor, and didn't answer. She panicked, and then grew angry. She abruptly stood, towering over the crouched hanyou and stamping her foot at InuYasha's silence, she hissed, "InuYasha, _what the hell is going on_?"

The banging began again, sending puffs of dust swirling off the door and clouding the stuffy air. InuYasha glared at the door and gestured for Kagome to be silent as they waited for the banging to cease. Suddenly, the sound of a few loud popping explosions drifted across the door's barrier. Kagome covered her mouth with her hands, horror spreading across her features.

_Those…those are guns!_

As if sensing her spiking panic, InuYasha stood and pulled her into another protective embrace, falling to his knees as he desperately tried to comfort her. "Shh, it'll be alright. We can make it through this…"

With her ear pressed tightly to his chest, she could hear his accelerated heartbeat. That did it – Kagome couldn't hold back the rising water in her eyes, and a solitary tear escaped to slide down her cheek. _He's never like this… What's going on? Why won't he tell me? Why won't he attack them with Tessaiga? _A gasp caught in her throat. _He's afraid – he's afraid – he's afraid… _She chanted the mantra in her head, her heart pounding harder with each word. _Oh gods, what happened?_

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_**.end prologue.**_

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Translations.**_  
aien kien _– a Japanese 4-character idiom, meaning approximately an "uncanny relationship formed by a quirk of fate," or "a couple strangely but happily united_"  
hanyou _– half youkai_  
haori _– a type of traditional kimono; in other words, InuYasha's usual red outer shirt_

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_**Historical Notes.**  
_Sengoku Jidai _– the "warring states" or feudal era of Japan. (-history geek moment-) Most of the InuYasha story takes place during the time before Tokugawa Ieyasu united Japan after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 AD. By calculation, the InuYasha story takes place just before the 16th century (1500s). This is prior to the samurai era; the closest we'll get to samurai might be wandering bushi warriors. (-end history geek moment-)_

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_**Spelling Notes.**  
_Tessaiga _– I am aware that the English translations spell it "Tetsusaiga". I have chosen to stick with the proper spelling that adheres to the Romanized furigana, which uses a small "tsu" rather than the large "tsu" – a small "tsu" doubles the "s" in this case, just like it does in Sesshoumaru, making it easier for the Japanese to pronounce. __"Tessaiga" also means "iron fang" and uses the same kanji as __"Tetsusaiga" would if it was a proper romanization of the word. (-end Japanese geek moment-)_  
InuYasha_ – I originally spelled this as Inuyasha, but as I've grown more familiar with the Japanese language and the series itself, I've decided to start capitalizing the "Y". Either spelling is correct, as Japanese don't have a capitalization system like many western languages do. The change is just a matter of personal preference._

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**_The Obligatory "Not-Quite-A-Foreword"_**

_Yes, I'm rewriting this story again too. Quite a bit will be changing from the last version on this as well, since I had a few new ideas and hoped that they'd get me motivated to work on this story. So far it's helped a bit. Somewhat._

_I do want to finish this story at some point; revising the current chapters would help me work with my plot ideas a tad more, I think. I still don't like what I have written, but I can only hope it has improved some from when I originally posted it about a year and a half ago._

_To any readers who read the original version, I hope this version is a clear improvement on the older one. Please do let me know how it reads. To any new readers who might happen to come along, welcome, and I hope I don't scare you off too quickly. Please do leave me a comment and let me know how I'm doing so far. X3_

_Thank you to everyone who has supported this story in the past. I really appreciated it; I don't think I would have bothered to continue with it if I hadn't had your encouragement._


	2. I:1 :: ikki ichiyuu

_Disclaimer: InuYasha and all affiliated characters and settings are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, and they are used here without permission at no profit._

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_**Part I**_

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**I.i.**  
一喜一憂  
_**ikki ichiyuu**_

_Several Days Earlier…_

If anything, Higurashi Kagome was determined to enjoy her short summer's break. She had studied hard for her final exams, fearing that she would be forced into attending summer cram school due to her constant absences. Her grandfather was running out of illnesses to offer as excuses for her during her time-traveling escapades. However, she surprised herself – and many of her teachers – when she tested well enough on her finals to escape the woes of sweltering summer classes. While her achievement took away one of her blessed few excuses to escape back to her home from the Sengoku Jidai through magical the time-slipped well in her backyard, she determined in the end that she would much rather track down the evil hanyou Naraku and fragments of the powerful Shikon jewel than pour over pre-calculus notes, or worse… English homework. InuYasha insisted that they were too close to catching Naraku off-guard to stop now.

He was probably right too, she told herself with a sigh as she hefted her heavy yellow knapsack over her shoulder on her way to the run-down shack that housed the well on her end of the timeline. Naraku's power steadily grew more deadly, and she feared that if they waited too long to take the monster down, he would be too powerful for their small group of companions to defeat. It would help if they could figure out what Naraku was thinking, but he was a difficult opponent to understand. However, Kagome understood InuYasha well enough to know that he wouldn't let her return home for some time, so she had come prepared. Flashlight, batteries, clothing, toiletries, first aid… oh, and ramen, of course.

Kagome shot a baleful glance over her shoulder at her home through the shack's doors, and then peered down into the dank well before her. She was going to miss her soft bed and hot baths and pre-packaged snacks. Of late, she had grown more accustomed to surviving in the 'wilderness' of the past, but it still didn't mean that she hated modernity. With another sigh, she daintily stepped over the wooden lip of the well and allowed herself to fall feet-first down into its depths. Blue and purple lights surrounded her, and soon she found herself in the bright outdoors of the Sengoku Jidai – feudal Japan.

Once Kagome had hoisted her bag – and then herself – over the edge of the well, she blinked rapidly to adjust to the brighter light on this side of the well. Cicadas buzzed noisily and signaled summer's return to the countryside, and the schoolgirl took a moment to relax and listen to them and enjoyed the clean-smelling air, a luxury she couldn't enjoy in modern Tokyo. The moment didn't last long, however, when a flash of silver and red streaked towards her, before it skidded to a stop and seemingly materialized into the shape of a tall boy standing nearly nose-to-nose with her. She didn't even flinch; there wasn't a need to, after all.

"Good morning, InuYasha," she greeted with a smile. She stepped around him to smooth a few wrinkles on her shorts, flicking the ends of her dark ponytail out of her face when she straightened.

The young hanyou's golden eyes were uncommonly bright with excitement, fuzzy triangle dog-ears perking up at the sound of her voice, but he merely mumbled a gruff greeting in return before he snatched Kagome's hand and clasped it delicately – but firmly – within his own roughened palm. "C'mon, they're waiting on us in the village. Might have a lead on a few shards Naraku hasn't gotten his paws on yet."

She wanted to feel offended when he didn't say a word of greeting, but she could tell by his expression that he was genuinely happy she was there. One of the most important things she learned about the hanyou from her constant travel with him was that he had trouble expressing his feelings in words, but instead portrayed his emotion through his expressive eyes and actions. He might be bad-tempered around his exterior, but she knew that deep inside he truly did care. Keeping that in mind, she smiled and allowed him to lead her toward the nearby village, where their companions awaited them and Kaede – the elderly miko and healer – dwelled.

The walk to the village was peaceful, despite the quick pace that InuYasha set. Kagome loved InuYasha's forest; no matter what season, the forest maintained a very mysterious and yet safe atmosphere, and every trek she made through the thickets of trees brought back memories of her first 'visit' to her own history. The smirking hanyou tugging her along now had once been pinned to a special tree, Goshinboku, by a sacred arrow shot by a miko's dying curse. Kagome somehow had managed to break the strong miko's seal, and InuYasha had immediately tried to kill her, mistaking her for the miko who pinned him to the tree. Kagome later learned that Kikyou – the miko – and InuYasha had nearly been lovers, and that InuYasha was mostly bitter from the betrayal that had been forced by Naraku's jealous influence.

Once InuYasha realized that Kagome wasn't Kikyou, they'd come to a rather… _uneasy_ understanding, with the help of a beaded necklace rosary that hung around InuYasha's neck and allowed Kagome to subdue him with a simple word. Only after the hanyou had calmed, Kagome discovered that she was the reincarnation of Kikyou, who had sealed InuYasha to the tree under the influence of Naraku's treacherous trap. At least it explained the resemblance between the two women. Kikyou had since been revived in a temporary body made of clay, and shared her soul – and InuYasha's affections, much to Kagome's dismay – with Kagome.

Kagome sighed as they passed near Goshinboku. Although her relationship with the hanyou continued to blossom, it didn't help that Kikyou still wandered around and stole his attention from her from time to time. However, she knew she couldn't be too jealous; after all, InuYasha wasn't actually her boyfriend, and he had been in love with Kikyou long before the well allowed her to pass through from the future. It had been no fault of either Kikyou or InuYasha that Naraku, in his jealousy, had fooled them to the point that they killed each other. It still hurt, though, when InuYasha took off at the mere mention of Kikyou's name.

"Oi, Kagome… pay attention, wench!"

A clawed hand wove in front of her vision, bringing her attention back to the 'present.' InuYasha peered at her curiously, eyebrows raised and a hint of worry flickering in his piercing golden eyes. Kagome blinked twice before shaking her head, forcing a nervous smile.

"Sorry, just spaced out for a moment," she apologized.

"Keh."

"Goshinboku always brings back memories, every time we pass by here," Kagome continued before InuYasha could pop off a rude comment that he would later regret.

InuYasha glanced over at the old tree with a light scowl. "Heh. Yeah, I guess it does," he replied haughtily; he didn't seem too fond of his own set of memories with the tree. "But we see it all the time. Damn thing doesn't have legs, anyway. Come on, the others're waiting for us back at the village; we don't have time to beat a dead horse."

Kagome nearly snorted indignantly, but held it. InuYasha was right in this case; when leads came along for new shards, they had to act immediately in order to gain them. Besides, she did suppose he had a reason to be crabby about his own past with Goshinboku. He was probably thinking about Kikyou; maybe it was better that they move along. Before she could pursue the thought, InuYasha snatched up her hand again and pulled her along the path.

Kagome heard, rather than saw, the first of her companions as soon as she and InuYasha stepped within sight of the small village.

"_Kagomeeeeee!_" the high-pitched squeal resounded off the bark of the surrounding trees. InuYasha groaned, and Kagome simply laughed.

A small brown blur hurtled towards her at a lightening speed, nearly knocking her over with an exuberant hug as the young kitsune youkai chattered happily at the young schoolgirl.

"Kagome! I'm so glad you're back – I missed you! Did you bring me anything? Miroku's been giving Sango trouble since you've been gone; I think he's bored, but now that you're back he'll hopefully behave himself unless he really wants Sango to kill him, which I don't blame her if she does one of these days, but InuYasha is such a grouch when you're not here, and now you can make him be nice, and I'm so glad that you're—"

InuYasha growled this time, baring teeth until Kagome shot him a harsh look. Turning back to the prattling youkai-child with a warm smile, she returned his hug. "Shippou-chan! I've missed you, too; and yes, I did bring a few things…"

Shippou's sea green eyes fairly glowed with delight as Kagome sifted through the contents in her yellow knapsack with a determined scrunching of her nose. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she might've seen InuYasha sniffing the air curiously, but she didn't dare comment. Finally, she found what she was looking for, and with a triumphant grin she pulled out a small red box and handed it to the kit.

"Pocky!" he exclaimed, turning the box of modern chocolate-coated biscuit stick treats over in his hands with a sense of wonder. "Thank you, Kagome!"

"Kagome-chan!"

Kagome looked up at the sound of her name from down the path, and found a young woman clad in a green skirt and cream-colored kimono peering out from the nearest hut, waving her hand high in the air.

"Sango-chan!"

The schoolgirl smiled and waved back, and picked up her knapsack as she moved to meet with her friend. However, as Kagome approached, Sango's eyes widened as a bright blush colored her fair cheeks, the shocked expression quickly fading to anger as she stormed back into the hut. A few deep-voiced protests drifted through the open doorway, followed quickly by a harsh slap and a pained yelp. Sango stormed out of the hut shortly after, a look of raged frustration in her gleaming eyes. Even InuYasha gulped at her approach, tactfully taking his place behind Kagome.

"I see Miroku-sama isn't wasting any opportunities, is he, Sango-chan?" she inquired with a falsely innocent tone, though she couldn't hide the laughter in her voice. Sango simply rolled her eyes as she tried unsuccessfully to mask the amusement.

"I'm glad to see you!" Sango exclaimed as she embraced her friend with a firm hug.

Kagome noticed that the girl had been training in her absence; the squeeze seemed stronger than when she had left. After all, Sango came from a _taijiya _clan – a tribe that invested its manpower and energy into exterminating youkai. Sango was one of the only two survivors of her kinfolk, however; a brutal attack from the same Naraku that had destroyed the lives of InuYasha and Kikyou half a century before had wiped out her entire clan. The incident brought back painful memories for Sango, especially since her brother Kohaku, who had been manipulated by Naraku, murdered his fellow clan members before he too died. Naraku kept him alive with a single Shikon shard planted into his back; it kept him alive, but if the shard ever came out, he would lose his life once more.

At this moment, however, Sango seemed happy. Kagome's grin broadened as she searched in her knapsack.

"I brought back some of that shampoo you liked from last time," Kagome commented lightly. She didn't notice Sango's slight blush. "You said you really liked the scent…"

"Oh, so that's what she was using," thoughtfully noted a young man clad in the traditional robes of a houshi, one hand stroking his chin in a gesture of mock enlightenment as he approached. The faint red outline of a handprint traced his left cheek. "I remember telling her that I liked it, and she hit me and said she would never wear it again."

Sango fairly seethed. "You _know_ that wasn't the case, Houshi-sama," she growled, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

The young man gulped and stepped back, bringing his hands up before him in a defensive gesture as if it would ward off the angry aura coming from Sango.

"Still the same Miroku-sama," Kagome muttered with a light smile.

"Keh. As if the perv would bother trying to change," InuYasha commented off-handedly. Kagome cast a frown over her shoulder at him, forgetting that his better-than-human hearing could pick up most utterances that others wouldn't hear. The hanyou offered a wide-eyed "what'd I do?" stare in return, so she sighed and decided to let his eavesdropping offense go for this time. It wasn't his fault he could hear so well.

Kagome was happy to see that all was well with her friends, and that nothing out of the ordinary had happened during her three-week leave just before final exams. She had been a bit apprehensive at leaving the Sengoku Jidai for so long, but she knew she had to get school out of the way before she could devote more time to finding any shards of the Shikon jewel that Naraku might have overlooked. This meant that they had been hunting down many dead-ends and cold trails, which ultimately sidetracked their goal of destroying Naraku. Kagome recalled a suggestion that Miroku had offered some time back – perhaps Naraku was the one behind all the loose Shikon shard rumors that continually floated around; it was possible that he was trying to buy time. None of the group could think of a logical reason why the evil hanyou would want to hide for so long, but they never knew what the crafty beast was up to anyway.

The demon deserved to die. He was the one responsible for causing InuYasha to betray his former love Kikyou, for creating a monstrous family tragedy for the demon-huntress Sango, and for cursing the monk Miroku's line with a fearsome _kazaana_ that sucked any- (and every-) thing in its path into the void. It would eventually swallow Miroku as well, as it did his father and his grandfather before him, if they did not destroy Naraku in time. Through the common goal of annihilating Naraku, the group became closely knit, almost like a family.

_Although, we'd make a very dysfunctional family_, Kagome noted with an amused grin as she watched Miroku try to rapidly smooth-talk his way out of a beating from Sango. InuYasha stalked past Kagome, tugging on her wrist as he led her towards the hut where the elderly miko Kaede made her residence. She followed without question, since she had wanted to give the elderly miko a few items from her time and settle in a bit before they headed back out on their hunt for the shards.

* * *

"Are you sure this isn't just another dead end, Kaede-sama?" 

Kaede shook her head gravely. "No, I think there really is an ogre-oni attacking the villages nearby. We've had a few wounded refugees end up here, and according to their accounts, this oni seemed more powerful than it should be," she explained. "One of these refugees was a badly wounded young houshi, who said that he sensed an external power influencing the oni's movements. He died before he told anyone what he meant by that."

Miroku grimaced at that; before he had joined InuYasha and Kagome on their journey, he had recalled that most oni were fairly easy to take down. This one didn't seem like a very congenial specimen to face head-on, he decided.

"So this ogre-oni doesn't necessarily have shards," InuYasha stated, annoyed. "I don't wanna waste my time destroying every oni or youkai that come to call if they don't have shards."

"InuYasha…" warned Kagome.

"I understand your impatience, InuYasha," Kaede cut in. "However, you know as well as any of the rest of us that you cannot afford to risk the fact that this ogre might have something of incredible value to you and your friends."

"Kaede-sama is right, InuYasha," said Miroku solemnly. "If we let this oni go, and it has shards, then we're leaving a huge opportunity for an already-powerful Naraku to get his hands on them. We really can't risk that."

"Keh." InuYasha stuck his nose in the air, but didn't offer any further argument.

Sango looked up from polishing the Hiraikotsu, her giant boomerang-like weapon, and asked, "Where was the oni last seen, Kaede-sama?"

Kaede looked a little saddened as she replied, "I am afraid that it completely wiped out the next village to the north of us. Our village-men are concerned that it will attack our village next, but we can never be sure of that."

Kagome shifted uncomfortably in her seat, avoiding looking at anyone in the room as she said quietly, "Actually, I think we can…"

All heads in the room snapped up at that statement, each regarding the girl warily. The attention seemed to make her even less at ease than she already was. She sighed.

"Kagome-chan?" Sango asked.

"I-I… I've sensed it ever since we sat down to eat, and it's only been getting stronger since," Kagome explained in a low voice, looking suspiciously out the door. "I don't know if it's that oni, but it is definitely a Shikon shard."

Tension immediately gripped the room in a tight stretch, making it seemingly hard to breathe. Kagome knew it wasn't the best news, but she hadn't had much of a choice. She knew it was coming in their direction, and if it was the oni that had attacked all the nearby villages recently, they would have to go confront it even if it hadn't been feeding off of a piece of the powerful Shikon jewel for strength. Shippou suddenly was next to her, gripping her bare arm in shaking, nervous hands.

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" InuYasha rose to his feet, hand gripping the worn-out hilt of the sheathed Tessaiga for emphasis. "Let's go get 'im while we can!"

Although Kagome would have liked to protest, InuYasha for once had the right idea on this one. The longer they waited, the more of a chance there was that the village could get involved if whatever had the jewel shard was hostile.

"Wait a minute, InuYasha," Miroku said, gripping InuYasha's shoulder with a firm hand. "We should go investigate first. It could very well be Kouga, or even Kohaku approaching for all we know – they both have Shikon shards, after all."

"It's not Kouga, Miroku-sama," Kagome corrected. "There's only one, though you are right… We shouldn't charge right in just yet. Let's go have a look first."

InuYasha snorted a word that sounded suspiciously like _"Keh!"_ under his breath, but released his grip on the Tessaiga. "Fine, let's go!"

He was the first to leave, followed closely by Miroku, who – for once – had the courtesy to allow Sango to change into her fighting uniform in private. Kagome sighed as she grabbed a light sweater, her bow, and a quiver of arrows on her way out the door flap, waiting briefly for Sango as she too exited the hut.

"Be careful!" Kaede called after them.

* * *

Kagome never remembered just how creepy InuYasha's forest became at night. The trees that looked so harmless during the day seemed to twist and reach out at any passing travelers in a dark, menacing silhouette against the moon. She shivered, tightening her grip in the familiar red haori ever so slightly. InuYasha chanced a brief glance over his shoulder, eyebrow raised in a questioning expression, to which she offered a small smile. 

"How far away is it?" he asked, sniffing the air as he charged forward in large, bounding strides across the forest floor.

Kagome squinted in concentration for a mere moment, then replied, "Not far. We should be coming across it really s—_look out!_"

InuYasha leapt to the side as a tree just ahead of them suddenly toppled down, blocking the path. In the shadows beyond the clearing haze of dust that the tree had upset during its fall, a single, glowing, red eye appeared behind a deep-throated gurgling growl.

"Not far, eh?" InuYasha snorted, setting Kagome on the ground behind him as he whipped out the Tessaiga.

"Kagome-chan! InuYasha!"

Sango and Miroku quickly arrived by their side, dismounting from a fully-transformed Kirara. The taijiya hefted the Hiraikotsu into a battle stance as the monk pulled a few ofuda from the inside of his heavy robe. Kagome notched an arrow into her bow, following suit.

"So this is the oni that's been attacking the villages," Miroku noted. "The rumors were correct, this time."

"Kagome, where's the shard?" insisted the hanyou, who spared a brief glance back to Kagome as she concentrated for a moment.

"It's in his left hand!" she exclaimed after a moment, pointing. As the lower half of the beast's emerged into the moonlight, its left hand did seem to be larger than its right.

"You guys stand back and let me handle this low-life youkai," InuYasha said in a low voice as he raised the Tessaiga and charged forward. "This won't take long – _Kaze no kizu!_"

Bright yellow streaks tore up the ground as they shot at the oni, who simply took several steps to the side and swiped at the lighted streaks with its left hand. To the shock of everyone in the group, the direction of the attack's light streaks changed direction, and headed right back towards them. With wide eyes, everyone quickly jumped out of the way, and were tossed further away as the ground exploded beneath them.

"Damn you!" InuYasha yelled, pulling himself to his feet and flying straight at the oni's shadowed face.

As he came closer, however, the hanyou's eyes widened for a moment when he looked into a single eye. The oni seemed to grin at the brief instant of its enemy's distraction, and with an easy swat, InuYasha was sent crashing into a tree. With a grunt, InuYasha pulled himself to his feet and glared at the oni with a low growl.

"You're a stubborn bastard," said InuYasha with a frown. "Don't tell me you're going to start talking to me and telling me you know what's on my mind, too." When the oni didn't reply, InuYasha wrinkled his nose. "Nah, you're not like that piece of shit anyway – you're too dumb. But you still have a shard that we want, so die already!" This time, InuYasha raised the sword and concentrated a moment as it glowed a bright pink, gathering a whirlwind of youki around the blade. "_Kongousouha!_"

In a flash of bright pink, a barrage of diamond-shaped spears shot out at the oni, which – although it was fast – wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the entire curtain of the sharp diamonds. It shrieked as the spears impaled its torso, easily bringing it to the ground in a heavy, unmoving heap. As it began to slowly dissolve into purple shouki-dust, InuYasha went to make sure Kagome was alright before he pulled her to her feet to have her pick out the shard from its remains. She wrinkled her nose as she approached the fallen, disintegrating body of the oni, but finally pointed to the middle of the back of the left hand. Without another word, InuYasha stabbed the tip of the Tessaiga into the oni's hand, then pulled it out as the shard came out with it. He snatched it up into his clawed hand with a smirk, and after giving Kagome a self-satisfied grin, he handed her the shard for safe-keeping.

"I'm surprised that there actually was a Shikon fragment still out there," Miroku mused as he and Sango approached. Although they'd been knocked back by InuYasha's reflected attack, they hadn't been hurt.

InuYasha merely grunted in agreement. It had been quite odd to find a shard there, but considering how many pieces the jewel had been broken into, it should have been feasible.

It was Shippou, however, who happened to voice what was on everyone's mind. "D-Do you think Naraku might've had something to do with it?" he asked nervously, shifting from one tiny foot to the other.

"It's possible," Miroku agreed, "but we should find out more about this before we decide for certain that he's behind it."

Everyone nodded, and the conversation seemed to end. Kagome allowed herself the luxury of a big yawn, looking balefully up at the late-night moon. InuYasha looked at her with a bit of concern, then crouched down next to her, offering her a ride.

"C'mon, we should go back to the village. It's getting late," he said quietly as the schoolgirl took her usual place on his broad back.

"We will consider this more later," Miroku agreed, climbing onto Kirara's back behind Sango and Shippou.

The group rode back in a tired silence. It had been a short battle, but due to the late hour, they were all rather exhausted by it. Even the village was quiet as they returned, making it seem slightly eerie. InuYasha cast a sideways glance at the burden on his back, and clarified what his ears and sensitive sense of touch had told him: she was asleep. Making sure that Sango and Miroku weren't watching – rather, they had fallen quite a ways behind – he allowed himself a small, self-satisfied grin. The brief distraction, however, caused him to nearly jump at the sound of an old woman's voice.

Despite the presence of the miko Kaede, the village still had another mystic – an ancient woman who seemed to enjoy giving everyone a thrill with her sign-readings and apparent foreseeing abilities. Though many dismissed her as a crazy old witch, few could deny that she was frighteningly accurate with her prophecies.

Which was why InuYash was especially bothered when the old woman startled him, saying, "The cursed child of taboo… You shouldn't be here yet."

InuYasha quirked an eyebrow after the initial surprise wore off. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, you old hag?"

"'Tis a bad omen, defeating the one-eyed oni," the mystic continued. "You have signed your fate to the afterlife in doing so, young hanyou."

Suppressing a shudder, InuYasha merely glared at the old woman with a "Keh!" before he turned on his heels and walked away.

"_The long road to hell is paved with timeless trials of blood and sacrifice._"

"Crazy old bag," InuYasha muttered, quickening his pace. It didn't stop her creepy voice from floating after him, however.

"_The one who will choose the path that leads to hell, will choose it for them all._"

Once her voice had died out to a distant burbling, InuYasha breathed a sigh of relief. To tell the truth, the woman's words normally wouldn't have unsettled him, except that she had mentioned the one-eyed oni. He was sure that none of the rumors had mentioned the oni's single eye, and he was pretty certain too that no one else out of his companions had noticed, either. A small voice tugged at the back of his mind, begging him to find out what the mystic's riddles meant; that they were important, and he should hear her out. But before he could muster up the gumption to turn back around, the warm burden on his back stirred.

"Mm, InuYasha? What was that about?" Kagome's groggy voice whispered into his ear.

"I-It was nothing," InuYasha replied. Changing the subject, he added, "We're almost back, but if you want to go back to sleep go ahead."

"Mmkay," Kagome murmured with a sigh. Her breathing quickly evened and deepened, indicating that she had fallen back asleep. The hanyou sighed, glad that he didn't have to offer an explanation that would only contribute to his worry. They were now entering the hut, and as he gently laid Kagome down onto her sleeping bag, he couldn't help but think about it.

_What did that old hag mean?_ He wondered, tucking Kagome into the sleeping bag, knowing deep down – with a sense of painfully mixed dread and anxiety – that the words would continue to plague him until he discovered the truth.

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_**.end chapter 1.**_

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_Ikki ichiyuu: (a Japanese 4-character idiom) _now rejoicing, now worrying; swinging from joy to sorrow; alternate hope and fear  
_Bouzu: _a derogatory term for a lower-level monk  
_Houshi: _a lower-level monk  
_Miko:_ a shrine maiden or priestess  
_Ofuda: _Japanese-style wards  
_Oni: _an ogre/monster/demon/etc.  
_Shakujou: _the ringed staff of a lower-level monk  
_Taijiya: _a youkai exterminator  
_Youkai:_ a monster/demon/ogre/etc.  
_Youki: _a youkai's aura/essence

_Note: In Japanese folklore, it actually is a bad omen to confront a one-eyed ogre/oni. Just in case anyone was wondering about that bit…_

_Let me know if I left anything out that is unclear to you._

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_Anyone who read the original might notice that this is vastly different so far, and parts of this story will undergo monstrous changes like this. However, most of the story will remain pretty much the same. I needed to flesh out a few setting issues and plot points. The end of next chapter will pick up where the original end of this chapter left off at. At least, that's what I want to have happen. And I'm still not pleased with how this chapter turned out. Ugh.  
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_Thank you to everyone who left a review! I'm shocked that people are still reading this story, even after all the crap I've put it through. Please forgive the slow updates; in my desire to make the plot for this story something more interesting, I am taking painstakingly tedious measures in working on the revisions. Do let me know how I'm doing so far, since I aim to improve.  
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